1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document processing device and a document processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been document processing devices for acquiring information that has been written into a form on a medium (“medium with form”) and processing the acquired information. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-155551 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technology of a data processing device with which the type of form can be easily detected as follows. That is, contents of a process performed for scanning a form according to a user's instruction are associated, as attached information, with image data obtained by the scanning operation.
Furthermore, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-234790 (Patent Document 2) discloses a technology of a written input form processing system. A form includes a region where writing is to be input, which is different from other regions of the form. This different region is processed as a group element based on form definition information.
Furthermore, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-18492 (Patent Document 3) discloses a technology of a document processing device for associating coordination information of a series of processing that is performed on document information, with item information.
Incidentally, the “form” described in patent documents 1 through 3 corresponds to a “form” or a “medium with form” in embodiments of the present invention.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-155551    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2005-234790    Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-18492
However, the technologies disclosed in patent documents 1 and 2 do not address a case of using a form that corresponds to each one of the processes (steps) included in a workflow definition. Generally, a single workflow definition includes plural processes, and a form corresponding to each process is defined. Furthermore, a post process is typically based on results of a previous process. In the technologies described in patent documents 1 and 2, the user is required to perform an operation for selecting a form for each process to be executed.
Furthermore, in the technology disclosed in patent document 3, when a single operator performs plural workflows at the same time, the operator is required to perform an operation for selecting a currently-executing workflow.